Apprenticeships

Lord Touhig: To ask Her Majesty's Government how many of the apprenticeships created in each of the last three years have lasted less than six months.
	To ask Her Majesty's Government what percentage of apprenticeships lasting less than six months in each of the last three years was run by training providers and employers respectively.
	To ask Her Majesty's Government what percentage of people found employment within three months of completing an apprenticeship which lasted less than six months in each of the last three years.
	To ask Her Majesty's Government what has been the change in the number of apprentices paid below the minimum wage since 2010.
	To ask Her Majesty's Government how many apprenticeships currently on offer lasting less than six months they consider as "high value vocational qualifications" and may be classed at Tech Levels.
	To ask Her Majesty's Government how many apprenticeships lasting less than six months they include on their list of vocational qualifications which will be reported in 14-16 performance tables and in 16-19 performance tables.

Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon: Information on Apprenticeship achievements by average length of stay is published online for the 2009/10 to 2011/12 academic years:
	https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/284791/June13_ Apprenticeship_ALOS.xls
	Care should be taken when interpreting Apprenticeship durations as they are dependent on the mix of Apprenticeship levels and frameworks, and the prior attainment of learners (some will already have completed parts of the Apprenticeship). The adjusted measure is intended to exclude those Apprentices with some prior attainment.
	We have taken steps to raise standards and improve quality. In August 2012 we introduced a minimum duration of 12 months for all Apprenticeships.
	We do not make the distinction between employers and training providers who run Apprenticeship programmes; both are contracted as Apprenticeship providers with the Skills Funding Agency.
	Information on Apprenticeship employment outcomes is not available broken down by the duration of the Apprenticeship. Learning outcomes data are published on the Further Education (FE) choices website to help better inform learner choices:
	http://fechoices.skillsfundingagency.bis.gov.uk
	The proportion of Apprentices estimated to be paid below their minimum wage in 2011 and 2012 is published in Table 2.8 of the Apprenticeship Pay Survey 2012. A comparable estimate is not available for 2010.
	https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/apprenticeship-pay-survey-2012
	Any substantive Level 3 qualifications taken as part of an Apprenticeship programme are included in the 16-19 performance tables. Overall Apprenticeship programmes are not currently listed separately, but it is intended that they will be in the future.

Apprenticeships

Lord Storey: To ask Her Majesty's Government how many apprenticeship positions created by or facilitated by (1) Liverpool City Council, and (2) Liverpool Futures CIC, in each year since 2012 resulted in an offer of full-time employment for individuals involved.

Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon: Information on Apprenticeship participation by provider is published in a Supplementary Table to a Statistical First Release:
	https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/fe-data-library-local-authority-tables
	https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/284386/January2013 _Participation_by_Provider_Funding_Stream_Learner_and _Learning_Characteristics201112.xls
	Information on learning outcomes is made available on the Further Education (FE) choices website to help better inform learner choices:
	http://fechoices.skillsfundingagency.bis.gov.uk

Armed Forces: Officers

Lord Willis of Knaresborough: To ask Her Majesty's Government whether applicants for senior ranks above and including Colonel, Captain and Group Captain in the Army, Navy and Royal Air Force are required to include their educational history, including secondary school attended, when being considered for appointment.

Lord Astor of Hever: Officers are selected for promotion in the Armed Forces, and are not therefore required to apply. Selection is based purely on merit, performance, specialist skills and potential. Educational history is not considered, unless a candidate is being nominated for a competed post, or one requiring specialist qualifications. At no point is secondary education considered.

Armed Forces: Scotland

Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth: To ask Her Majesty's Government how much money is to be spent by the Ministry of Defence in each year from 2015 to 2020 in Scotland.

Lord Astor of Hever: Defence is a reserved issue and so the defence budget is not apportioned by region but is planned on a UK basis to provide the best levels of protection and security for all parts of the UK and its citizens at home and abroad. Decisions on future spending are therefore based on meeting the UK's defence and security requirements and ensuring value for money to the taxpayer.

Channel Islands

Lord Tyler: To ask Her Majesty's Government how many UK Border Agency staff are permanently deployed in Jersey, Guernsey and Sark.

Lord Taylor of Holbeach: There are no Border Force Officers deployed to Jersey, Guernsey or Sark.
	Jersey has its own Customs and Immigration Service. Guernsey has an Immigration, Nationality and Passport Department. Both islands have their own immigration rules.

Channel Islands

Lord Tyler: To ask Her Majesty's Government what UK Border Agency controls are in place for entry into the UK from Jersey, Guernsey and Sark.

Lord Taylor of Holbeach: There are no physical border controls in place for those entering the UK from Jersey, Guernsey or Sark. Jersey, Guernsey and Sark are part of the Channel Islands. The UK, Channel Islands, Isle of Man and the Republic of Ireland collectively form a common travel area (CTA). Under Paragraph 15 of the UK Immigration Rules a person who has been examined for the purpose of immigration control in one part of the CTA does not normally require to be examined on arrival into any other part of the CTA.

Civil Service: Senior Posts

Lord Willis of Knaresborough: To ask Her Majesty's Government, as at 1 March, how many senior civil servants in the Ministry of Defence were male; and how many were educated privately.

Lord Astor of Hever: As at 1 March 2014, there were 183 male Senior Civil Servants in the Ministry of Defence. This figure includes those employed in Trading Funds and on loan from Other Government Departments (OGDs), but excludes those on loan to OGDs and those on Special Unpaid Leave.
	Details of the education of members of the SCS are not held.

Cyclists: Fatalities

Lord Taylor of Warwick: To ask Her Majesty's Government what is being done to reduce the number of cyclist deaths on United Kingdom roads.

Baroness Kramer: I refer the Noble Lord to my answer of 24 Feb 2014, Official Report, column WA170 (HL5360). Since my answer we have launched the THINK! campaign on 24 March 2014.

Drugs: Prescribed Drug Addiction

Baroness Meacher: To ask Her Majesty's Government what proportion of people in England are receiving (1) methadone therapy, and (2) buprenorphine therapy; what other types of treatments are available; and what is the breakdown of the usage of those types of treatments by each of the four Public Health England regions.

Earl Howe: Data on the proportion of people receiving medicines is not held centrally; the National Drug Treatment Monitoring System (NDTMS) collects data on patients who receive prescribing interventions in a range of settings, but not which drugs they are prescribed.
	The Health and Social Care Information Centre publishes data on the number of prescriptions dispensed in the community and in 2012-13 just less than three million prescription items containing either methadone or buprenorphine were dispensed through primary care facilities.
	In addition to methadone and buprenorphine, which are recommended by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) for treating drug misuse, drug treatment should always involve evidence based psychosocial interventions. These psychosocial interventions are designed to treat drug misuse and help drug misusers achieve specific treatment goals. They are the mainstay of treatment for the misuse of cocaine and other stimulants, and for cannabis and hallucinogens.
	People receive prescribing and psychosocial interventions in different settings, and these are recorded by the National Drug Treatment Monitoring System (NDTMS) as;
	- Community;- Primary Care;- Inpatient Unit (prescribing in this setting is mostly for detox); - Residential rehab; and- Recovery House.
	The NDTMS data which shows how many people received psychosocial interventions and prescribing in each of these settings, broken down into the four public health regions is in the following table.
	Table 5.2.3: Interventions received by clients in treatment 2012-13, new interventions
	
		
			  Pharmacological 
			 Setting & Intervention Type London Midlands and East of England North of England South of England National 
			 Community 9,804 20,069 22,027 14,620 66,520 
			 In-Patient Unit 470 431 550 613 2,064 
			 Primary Care 2,161 5,738 5,622 5,493 19,014 
			 Prison 0 0 0 0 0 
			 Residential 61 187 36 178 462 
			 Recovery House 0 4 13 0 17 
			 Total 12,105 25,374 29,139 19,774 86,392 
			 Missing Setting 37 3 1,728 0 1,768 
		
	
	
		
			  Psychosocial 
			 Setting & Intervention Type London Midlands and East of England North of England South of England National 
			 Community 20,347 27,441 37,968 24,097 109,853 
			 In-Patient Unit 449 319 489 336 1,593 
			 Primary Care 1,731 3,733 7,780 1,003 14,247 
			 Prison 0 0 0 0 0 
			 Residential 350 368 338 527 1,583 
			 Recovery House 48 11 64 4 127 
			 Total 22,246 31,231 47,004 25,171 125,652 
			 Missing Setting 233 3 1,775 0 2,011 
		
	
	
		
			  Total number of individuals* 
			 Setting & Intervention Type London Midlands and East of England North of England South of England National 
			 Community 20,641 33,835 41,872 25,783 122,131 
			 In-Patient Unit 473 463 644 624 2,204 
			 Primary Care 2,766 6,406 10,416 6,025 25,613 
			 Prison 0 0 0 0 0 
			 Residential 352 381 345 533 1,611 
			 Recovery House 48 15 65 4 132 
			 Total 22,689 38,351 51,812 27,777 140,629 
			 Missing Setting 236 3 1,782 0 2,021 
		
	
	* This is the total number of individuals receiving each intervention type and not a summation of the psychosocial and prescribing columns.
	Table 5.2.3 provides information on interventions commenced after the changes to the core dataset on 1 November 2012 (see section 1.5 for more detail on this change). It shows the number of clients who received each intervention by setting for interventions starting on or after 1 November 2012 based on the new intervention codes. If a client's intervention features in Table 5.2.3, the same intervention (for interventions that can be directly mapped between tables) is not featured in Table 5.2.2 to avoid double counting.

Drugs: Prescribed Drug Addiction

Baroness Meacher: To ask Her Majesty's Government how many patients in England receiving methadone or buprenorphine relapsed and received the same medication again on re-entry into treatment in (1) 2011, (2) 2012, and (3) 2013.

Earl Howe: The data requested is not collected centrally. However, the National Drug Treatment Monitoring System (NDTMS) collects data on people who have received a prescribing intervention, and can track if they re-enter the treatment system at a later date. The specific drugs they are prescribed or the prescribing intention is not recorded.
	The following table below shows the numbers of people who indicated an opiate among their problematic substances and successfully completed treatment following a prescribing intervention, the numbers (of the above) who subsequently re-entered the treatment system within six months, and the numbers (of the above) who re-entered the treatment system indicating an opiate among their problem substances and then received a prescribing intervention.
	It is important to note that since specific drugs prescribed are not recorded, we do not know which drugs were prescribed when the patient re-entered the treatment system. They may have been re-prescribed the same drug they were receiving before, or they may have been prescribed a different drug from the one they received before (e.g. they were receiving methadone, but received buprenorphine when they returned). It is also possible that they may have received prescribing for a different purpose when they returned to treatment. Some people who have received prescribing may return to treatment for support which does not involve prescribing.
	The numbers recorded are those who received prescribing as part of any treatment pathway before they completed treatment, so may have been receiving a range of other interventions in different settings as part of their treatment journey (e.g. psychosocial interventions, residential rehabilitation and structured community based rehabilitation ).
	Figures are presented for 2011 and 2012 calendar years. The figures for 2013 are not yet available.
	The NDTMS dataset has been changed (effective from November 2012) to take better account of prescribing intentions, so now it records whether prescribing was intended for assessment and stabilisation, maintenance, withdrawal or relapse prevention.
	
		
			 Group 2011 2012 
			 Number of people in treatment for opiate use receiving prescribing interventions who successfully completed treatment 13,623 12,662 
			 Number who re-entered treatment within six months 2,950 2,686 
			 Percentage re-entering treatment 21.7% 21.2% 
			 Number who re-entered treatment within six months and presented to treatment for opiate use and received a prescribing intervention 2,516 2,271 
			 Percentage re-entering treatment who presented to treatment for opiate use and received a prescribing intervention 18.5% 17.9%

Drugs: Prescribed Drug Addiction

Baroness Meacher: To ask Her Majesty's Government what proportion of people prescribed methadone have been assessed also for buprenorphine, in accordance with the recommendation of the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence.

Earl Howe: This data is not collected centrally. The National Drug Treatment Monitoring System (NDTMS) collects data on patients who receive prescribing interventions in a range of settings, but not which drugs they are prescribed.

EU: Imports

Lord Pearson of Rannoch: To ask Her Majesty's Government what was the weighted percentage average of effectively applied European Union tariffs borne by passenger cars made in (1) Japan, and (2) South Korea, and imported into the United Kingdom for the last year for which figures are available.

Lord Livingston of Parkhead: In 2013 the weighted average tariff effectively applied to passenger cars imported into the UK from Japan was 10% and from South Korea was 4.7%. Under the terms of the EU-Korea Free Trade Agreement the EU's tariffs on Korean cars are being phased out and will eventually fall to zero.

Government Departments: Surveys

Lord Mendelsohn: To ask Her Majesty's Government what customer, user and satisfaction surveys were conducted in the last 12 months in the Attorney General's Office and the agencies that report to it; which of them have been reported to the management board in the last 12 months; and which were commissioned by the management board.

Lord Wallace of Tankerness: The Treasury Solicitor's Department (TSol), which provides legal services to a number of government departments and bodies, conducted an annual client satisfaction survey in January 2014. The outcome of the survey was reported to the TSol Board and is one of the measures agreed with TSol by HM Treasury.
	The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) are conducting a survey of victims of crime who had received the revised victim communication and liaison scheme which is currently being piloted by three CPS Areas. The survey is still ongoing but will feed into the evaluation of the pilots later this year.
	There have been no other external customer, user or satisfaction surveys conducted by the Law Officers' Departments during the past 12 months.

Government Departments: Surveys

Lord Mendelsohn: To ask Her Majesty's Government what customer, user and satisfaction surveys were conducted in the last 12 months in the Wales Office and the agencies that report to it; which of them have been reported to the management board in the last 12 months; and which were commissioned by the management board.

Baroness Randerson: The Wales Office has not conducted any customer or user surveys in the last 12 months.
	However, the Wales Office conducts a staff engagement survey annually, and the results are reported to the Department's management board.

Government Departments: Surveys

Lord Mendelsohn: To ask Her Majesty's Government what customer, user and satisfaction surveys were conducted in the last 12 months in the Department for Work and Pensions and the agencies that report to it; which of them have been reported to the management board in the last 12 months; and which were commissioned by the management board.

Lord Freud: The Department for Work and Pensions conducts an annual Claimant Service and Experience Survey which measures customer satisfaction. The survey includes customers of Jobcentre Plus and the former agency Pensions, Disability and Carers Service. Fieldwork for the 2013 survey was completed in September. The survey is approved by the Operations Executive Team and key findings have been reported to them.
	The Child Maintenance Group conducts customer satisfaction surveys to cover all its statutory schemes. Quarterly surveys are run for the 1993/2003 and 2012 schemes and a monthly survey for the Options Gateway to tell how customers think suppliers are delivering service. All of these surveys are commissioned and reviewed for internal use by the CMG Executive Team.

Health: Parkinson's Disease

Baroness Howe of Idlicote: To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans are in place in Health Education England to ensure that its programme of work includes emphasis on Parkinson's medication being given on time.

Earl Howe: Timely delivery of medication will form part of wider work on medicines optimisation, which is being led by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence and professional bodies, including the Royal Pharmaceutical Society (RPS). The RPS issued Professional Standards for Hospital Pharmacy Services; Optimising patient outcomes from medicines in 2012. This states that pharmacists should take steps to minimise omitted and delayed medicines doses in hospitals.
	Additionally, on 19 March 2014, Health Education England (HEE) launched a new framework to help pharmacy professionals to improve their skills in carrying out consultations with patients about medicines and in delivering public health messages, including those with Parkinson's disease.
	HEE will work with stakeholders to influence training curricula as appropriate although the content and standard of clinical training is ultimately the responsibility of the professional bodies.

Higher Education: Television Services

Lord Wigley: To ask Her Majesty's Government how many universities or other institutions of higher education in England are able to use their funds to operate their own television services, or invest in facilities for use by independent television service providers.

Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon: Higher Education Institutions are autonomous institutions which can use the income they receive from various sources for any service consistent with their own charitable purpose and their legal obligations.

Housing

Lord Whitty: To ask Her Majesty's Government how much money has been borrowed by local authorities in England for house building in each of the last five years; and what was the cap on such borrowing for each of those years.

Baroness Stowell of Beeston: We do not hold data on how much local authorities have borrowed for the purposes of house building.
	The limit on borrowing is for the purposes of all capital expenditure on a local authority's housing stock, which would include house building. In England, these limits only apply to the 167 local authorities who still retain sufficient housing stock to necessitate them maintaining Housing Revenue Accounts.
	Before the financial year 2012-2013 borrowing was controlled through a complex revenue redistribution in the housing subsidy system. The Self-Financing Settlement reform introduced by this Government has given local authorities control over their own housing revenue, but limits have been introduced to control public sector borrowing, given that such borrowing counts against the Public Sector Borrowing Requirement. A table showing the 2012-2013 borrowing limit for each stock-holding authority, which has remained the same for 2013-2014, is being deposited in the Library of the House.
	We have commissioned an independent review to consider how local authorities are using their freedoms and flexibilities under self-financing to deliver new housing, and what more they might do to support housing supply.

NHS: General Practitioners

Lord Taylor of Warwick: To ask Her Majesty's Government how many people they estimate are having their health put at risk because they have to wait too long to see their general practitioner.

Earl Howe: We have been advised by NHS England that data on the number of people having their health put at risk because they have to wait too long to see their general practitioner (GP) is not collected.
	NHS England has also advised that public health policy to improve awareness of potentially serious, so called red flag symptoms, is being rolled out. GPs should use a variety of methods to allow urgent assessment when such symptoms are reported.
	We know that 76% of respondents to the GP patient survey stated that their experience of getting a GP appointment was either very good or fairly good.

NHS: Private Patients

Lord Campbell-Savours: To ask Her Majesty's Government in what circumstances private patients awaiting or receiving treatment are accommodated in the same wards as National Health Service patients, in National Health Service wards in National Health Service hospitals.

Earl Howe: National Health Service hospitals must ensure that private and NHS care are kept as clearly separate as possible. Any privately funded care must be provided by an NHS trust at a different time and place from NHS commissioned care except in exceptional circumstances such as when doing so would endanger patient safety.

Non-departmental Government Bodies: Staff

Lord Adonis: To ask Her Majesty's Government how many employees were recruited by the Student Loans Company in 2013; and, of that number, how many were graduates.

Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon: The Student Loans Company recruited a total of 499 employees in 2013.
	The organisation does not centrally hold details relating to the qualification levels of staff.

Pensions

Lord Harrison: To ask Her Majesty's Government what recent steps they have taken to ensure that information on the engagement activities of pension funds and other institutional investors with investee companies is made fully accessible.
	To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the case for large occupational defined contribution pension schemes to be active owners or stewards of their assets, in line with the definition of stewardship as outlined in the Financial Reporting Council's Stewardship Code.
	To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the case for large occupational defined benefit pension schemes to be active owners or stewards of their assets, in line with the definition of stewardship as highlighted in the Financial Reporting Council's Stewardship Code.

Lord Freud: The Government supports the principles set out in the Financial Reporting Council (FRC) UK Stewardship Code including schemes becoming active stewards of their investments and reporting on that stewardship. The Code sets out a number of areas of good practice to which the FRC believes institutional investors should aspire, and operates on a 'comply or explain' basis. It includes guidance for pension schemes and other asset owners on steps they can take to protect and enhance the value that accrues to the ultimate beneficiary. The FCA requires UK authorised asset managers to report on whether or not they apply the Code.
	The UK stewardship code is voluntary, however we would encourage workplace pensions schemes to comply with the principles set out in the code. In addition we are developing governance standards of workplace defined contribution schemes, and have asked the Law Commission to investigate how fiduciary duties currently apply in the investment chain. The Pensions Regulator's defined contribution Code of Practice also sets out the legal requirements and standards they expect trustees of defined contribution schemes to attain. This includes a section on investment which also references the FRC Stewardship code. These initiatives are part of our on-going work to ensure schemes are governed and administered to deliver in members' interests.

Pensions

Lord Harrison: To ask Her Majesty's Government, in the light of the findings of the Kay Review, what role they consider that local authority pension funds should take in leading the way in becoming active owners of their assets.

Baroness Stowell of Beeston: Each local authority that administers a pension fund in England and Wales is already subject to statutory guidance regarding adoption of the Financial Reporting Council's Stewardship Code and is required to publish its statement of the principles governing its investment decisions. Ministers will consider whether the existing guidance needs to be revised in the light of the findings of the Kay Review.

Police: Strip Searches

Lord Beecham: To ask Her Majesty's Government whether, in the light of the disavowal by HM Chief Inspector of Prisons and HM inspector of Constabulary of the Metropolitan Police's statement that they had found the use of strip searches of children in custody to be "proportionate and appropriate", whether they will institute an inquiry into the Metropolitan Police's practice of such searches.

Lord Taylor of Holbeach: It is important that the police have the ability to conduct a thorough search of any suspect (irrespective of age) whilst in police custody, not only to investigate crimes of which they are suspected, but also for their own safety whilst in custody. The use of these powers is an operational matter for the Chief Constable of each police force in England and Wales. However, their use must be in accordance with the safeguards set out in the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 Code of Practice C.
	The Government takes the welfare of children very seriously. It is for this reason that the Home Secretary has asked Her Majesty's Inspector of Constabulary to include the use of the strip search procedure on children as part of the thematic inspection into the treatment of vulnerable people in police custody, which was commissioned in January.

Railways: Euston Station

Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth: To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have for the re-development of Euston station.

Baroness Kramer: The construction of the HS2 terminus at Euston station is a significant opportunity to maximise the economic potential of the high speed line and regenerate a site that has been neglected. Building on the current proposals in the hybrid Bill, the Government has asked HS2 Ltd and Network Rail to work with the rail industry and the local community to see if a more comprehensive proposal for the redevelopment of the station can be developed.

Railways: High Speed 2

Lord Harris of Haringey: To ask Her Majesty's Government when they expect to publish their response to the HS2 Property Compensation consultation.
	To ask Her Majesty's Government what is the difference both in absolute terms and in percentage terms in the compensation for those affected by HS2 who (1) live in the Rural Support Zone, and (2) live outside it.
	To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they will publish the boundaries of the Rural Support Zone for HS2 and list the local authorities within which the Zone falls.
	To ask Her Majesty's Government whether people who live outside the Rural Support Zone whose properties are affected by HS2 will be considered for a property bond scheme.

Baroness Kramer: The Government is not yet able to confirm the outcome of the recent consultation on property compensation for Phase One of HS2, but expects to make an announcement soon.

Schools: Governors

Lord Storey: To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to fill vacant school governor positions.

Lord Nash: Responsibility for filling a vacancy on a governing body rests with the relevant appointing body for that vacancy. This will vary depending on the category of school and the category of governor.
	Governing bodies should review their membership and size on a regular basis and ensure that appointments are made in an efficient and timely manner. The Governors' Handbook recommends that for every vacancy, governing bodies should conduct a skills audit to identify any gaps in the skills, knowledge and experience of existing governors. Governing bodies should also set out the specific skills and experience that the school needs for the relevant appointing body or electorate.
	The Department for Education has committed funding to School Governors' One-Stop Shop (SGOSS), the governor recruitment charity, to March 2015. SGOSS provides a free service, matching high quality candidates that want to become governors with schools that have governor vacancies, according to the skills the schools need. In addition we are working with employers to encourage them to promote volunteering as a governor to their staff. This can potentially provide schools with an important source of highly skilled governors and is also an excellent learning and development opportunity for the employees concerned, carrying benefits back to their employer.

Ukraine

The Earl of Sandwich: To ask Her Majesty's Government what is their estimate of the extent of illegal transactions and embezzled funds from Ukraine being invested in the City of London; and what plans they have to enable some of those funds be repatriated.

Lord Taylor of Holbeach: HM Treasury has implemented European Union sanctions against individuals identified as responsible for the misappropriation of Ukrainian state funds.
	The result of these sanctions is that any assets in the UK, which are owned, held or controlled by any of the 18 listed individuals identified as responsible for the misappropriation of state funds are now frozen. We will be working to ensure that these measures are robustly implemented, including by looking to uncover assets which may be hidden behind complex company structures.
	A multi-agency team comprised of the National Crime Agency, the Metropolitan Police Service and the Crown Prosecution Service has visited the Ukraine to offer technical assistance and support to the Ukrainian authorities in their efforts to identify and recover embezzled state funds. All appropriate criminal justice and administrative routes to support the Ukrainian authorities are being pursued.

Winter Fuel Allowance

Lord Bradley: To ask Her Majesty's Government how many pensioners received winter fuel payments in each of the parliamentary constituencies in the city of Manchester in (1) 2010-11, (2) 2011-12, and (3) 2012-13.

Lord Freud: The information is available: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/winter-fuel-payments-caseload-and-household-figures.